Update on ticks in Maine (and how much I still hate them)

A few weeks ago, I blogged about getting bit by a deer tick and the increase in the sheer number of them across the State. Last week, the BDN ran an article about the increase in illness here in Maine due to those horrible bugs.

Here are some scary take aways if you live here:
* Lyme sickened about 1,000 Mainers in 2011 and more than 180 so far this year
* The deer tick can transmit Lyme, anaplasmosis and babesiosis.
* The dog tick can carry Lyme but doesn’t transmit it
* On average, 50 percent of Maine deer ticks carry disease
* Ticks are less of a problem in northern counties of Maine and at higher elevations (<-- don't complain about a good, snowy, cold winter!)

The biggest issue I had with this article is that they never mention that the rash you can get does not have to be near the site of the bite. Instead, it makes that assumption for the reader "But patients can miss the rash if the bite occurs where they can’t see it, such as under the hair on the back. If you get bit on your stomach, like I did, and it is an infected tick, you can get a rash on your foot, your back, your neck etc. It does not have to be where the bite is.

While writing this, I am pretty sure I had 3 ticks crawling on me. 4 months until October and snow!!!

Comments

Healthy Coyote coming through

I still have a few trail cameras out to see what the deer are up to. I have gotten pictures of the big buck that is around and most recently, I got these pictures. Normally, I wouldn't be too freaked out but now that we have a dog, it is a little unnerving. Add that this camera is about 50 feet from our lawn and less than 100 feet from our front door... I hope that this one is just passing through. (Sidenote: I put new batteries in this camera so the date and time are wrong BUT I walked in front of it so it would take my picture and I could figure out what the actual time and date were: 7am Saturday morning.)

Where are the women?

This week, my interview with Steve at The Maine Outdoorsman went live. Steve said yesterday 200 people hit his site viewing over 500 pages. That is a lot of people reading about little ole me and hunting. Why? When I think of women who are in the general public's eye and hunt, I can think of 2 - Country singer Miranda Lambert and Sarah Palin. Why only two? Why is the female hunter such a fascinating thing? (I should probably note that I do not have cable so any and all female hunters on the hunting stations are lost to me. I'll keep it to the general public because that's what I am familiar with.) People/media were fascinated by the fact that they could get footage of Palin and her gun, shooting (and gutting) animals but I feel like the nostalgia would be lost if they had the same footage of McCain. Lambert and her hubby Blake Shelton tweet photos of their kills, and comment on what/where they are hunting. I only know this because I follow both. That's it....

Do Outdoor Women need to toughen up?

I hope you get shot out in the forest and wolves gnaw on your dying corpse…..WHILE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE I’d like to rip off your f*$%ing head and pour gunpowder down your f*$%ing throat and light it on fire Only c*%t’s shoot animals and take pleasure in it. I hope you die a horrible painful death As I began to look at how female hunters were being bullied, I had to ask myself if it was because we were easy targets as women or if we needed to just toughen up a little. Once I started asking my fellow female hunters about their experiences, the things that they sent to me as examples of what they deal with daily made me sick to my stomach. I’d like to meet you outside someday with a gun in my hand, I would shoot you several times and laugh over your f*$%ing body as you die like you do to those poor animals that can’t defend themselves. MURDERER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Generally threats are basic name calling. They include sexist remarks, racist remar...

and a strong cup of coffee

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